Stone Sculpture

Carving in soft stone such as Oamaru Stone, Hinuera and Steatite (Soap Stone) is an area of my practice I adore. Teasing out the image within the stone is magic. The process allows contemplation and meditation until the final form is reached.

I start with a large block of stone, which is then cut with a chainsaw into smaller blocks. The next stage is to hand draw the design onto the stone, then paint it with black paint to see where the cuts need to go.

After the lines are marked, a hand saw is used to take off the larger pieces, then a mallet and chisel and so to a rasp, then onto sandpaper with the grit reducing as the finish is reached.

A large artwork can take 40 hours to complete and a smaller piece 3-4 hours depending on the complexity.